or. "I thank you,
Purcel, but I will not have it."

"I break no faith with him," replied the proctor; "he was bound to have
let me know, on yesterday, whether he would require the money or not,
for the matter was conditional; but as I have not yet heard from him, I
hold myself at liberty to act as I wish. The fault is his own."

"And on these conditions, so you are; I well, thank you again, Purcel, I
accept this money on your terms, eight per cent. Nay, you oblige me very
much; indeed you do."

"Well, then, that matter is settled," said the proctor, "do not speak of
it," he proceeded, in reply to the doctor's last observation; "I should
indeed be unworthy either of your good opinion or my own, if I held
aloof from you just now. I will have a bond prepared in a day or two,
but in the meantime, if you will call at my house, you may have the
money home with you."

The doctor once more thanked Mm, and they were in the act of returning
to the house, when the noise of a pistol was heard, and at the same
moment a bullet whistled light between them, and so close to each that
it was utterly impossible to say at which of the two individuals the
murderous aim had been taken. The garden, a large one and highly walled
in, was entered by two gates, one of which led into the back yard, the
other into a corner of the lawn that was concealed from the house by a
clump of trees. The latter gate, which was not so large as the other,
had in it a small iron grating a little above the centre, through which
any one could command a view of the greater portion of the garden. It
was through this gate they had entered, and as no apprehension of any
attempt of assassination had existed in the mind of either, they left
the key in the outside, not having deemed it at all necessary to secure
the door, by locking it within.

The proctor, to whose cowardice the worthy clergyman had not long before
paid so sincere, but by no means so flattering a tribute, did not wait
to make even a single observation, but ran with all his speed towards
the gate, which, to his surprise and mortification, he found locked on
the outside. Apprehensive, however, of a second attack, he beckoned to
his companion to hasten towards the other gate, which was not visible
from that through which the shot had been fired, and in the meantime,
he himself ran also towards it, in order to try whether it might not
be possible to get some view or trace of the assassin. He had a case